Black Swan Data – a data science and consumer behaviour prediction company – has closed an $18.5 million growth fundraise led by Oxx, a venture capital firm that backs Europe’s most promising B2B SaaS companies, with participation from existing investor AlbionVC. The funding will be invested in developing more advanced features and capabilities in Trendscope, Black Swan’s core software platform, and continuing expansion in the US market.  By predicting consumer needs and trends with 89% accuracy rating more than six months into the future, Trendscope enables CPG (consumer packaged goods) companies to develop more relevant innovation ideas and improve their

US middle-market private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners has sold Mercury Healthcare, a technology and data analytics company, to WebMD Health Corp, an Internet Brands company and a leader in health information services for consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.    The combination of WebMD and Mercury Healthcare will help transform the patient experience by supporting more efficient and effective communication with patients and caregivers.

Trinsic, the leading infrastructure for building user-controlled identity products, has secured $8.5 million in a  seed funding round led by Georgian. Jon Gelsey (Founding CEO, Auth0), Frederic Kerrest (Executive Vice Chairman, Co-founder & COO, Okta), Kickstart Seed Fund, Founder’s Co-op, Osage Venture Partners, Forward VC, and a dozen additional angel investors also participated.  The round is the largest of its kind in the decentralised identity category to date. Dozens of banks, insurance companies, automobile brands, governments, and startups are building user-controlled identity products on Trinsic’s platform.  Trinsic plans to use this new capital to expand its team and accelerate its

SFC Capital, one of the UK’s most active seed-stage investors, has received a further £5 million commitment from British Business Investments to invest into innovative early-stage businesses across the UK regions. This new commitment – part of its Regional Angels Programme, designed to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK – follows an initial £10 million commitment from British Business Investments made in 2020, which is now fully deployed.    The commitment is managed by SFC Capital and invested alongside its SEIS and EIS funds as well as the SFC Angel Network. In total,

The Riverside Company, a global private equity investor focused on the smaller end of the middle market, has made a non-control investment in Apollo Interactive (Apollo). Founded in 1995, Apollo is a tech-enabled lead generation provider that delivers its customers leads of high-intent consumers who are actively searching online for insurance or mortgage products.  The investment was made out of Riverside’s Strategic Capital Fund (RSCF). Apollo uses its proprietary, custom-built technology platform to automate the lead generation process, serving clients that include leading insurance brokers, insurance carriers, mortgage lenders and lead aggregators across several industry verticals such as Medicare, under-65

Pembroke VCT, a venture capital trust focused on backing early-stage businesses led by exceptional founders and management teams, has invested in My Expert Midwife, a midwife-founded brand for pregnancy, birth and beyond. The £2 million fundraise was led by Pembroke, who invested £1.5 million alongside existing shareholders and angel investors.    My Expert Midwife was established in 2017 by registered midwife, Lesley Gilchrist and massage specialist, Claire Charlton. Drawing from their personal experience and professional expertise of caring for women throughout pregnancy, the brand launched a range of no-nonsense products developed to tackle taboos around pregnancy and childbirth for new

Ophelos, a, AI technology firm and pending B-corp focused on the debt resolution process in the UK, has raised £5 million in a seed funding round led by AlbionVC.   Contributions were also made by Vast Ventures, an early investor in Coinbase and Tala, regulatory and public policy experts Form Ventures, as well as existing investors Connect Ventures and Fly Ventures. A group of angel investors – including Matt Robinson (Co-Founder, GoCardless & Nested), James Meekings (Co-Founder, Funding Circle), Jonah and Noah Goodhart (Co-Founders, Moat), and more – also participated.  AlbionVC’s fintech investing track recored includes Quantexa and Credit Kudos.

Foresight Group (Foresight), a listed private equity and infrastructure investment manager, has made a £600,000 growth capital investment in Lillicoco Limited (Lillicoco), using equity finance from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). Lillicoco is an e-tailer of women’s affordable luxury antique jewellery, including rings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants – ranging from £100 to £5,000 per item. Each item is authenticated and certified in-house. It is then listed on Lillicoco.com with a detailed condition report, as well as high-definition photos and videos. The Company boasts a 4.9/5 Trustpilot score, making it the most positively reviewed and trusted online operator in the

Claira (www.claira.io), a document intelligence fintech, has secured a strategic investment from Citi Spread Products Investment Technologies (SPRINT), the strategic investing arm of the bank’s Global Spread Products division.